January 15, 2008

Georgia Tech Student Admits Jihad Aspirations, Linked to Irhabi 007

Former Georgia Tech student Syed Haris Ahmed has admitted that he had jihad aspirations. Oddly, in one breath he says the whole videotaping of potential targets was a big joke, but in the next he claims he hoped that the videos would land him a gig in an al Qaeda training camp, and then from there to do battle with the infidel.

The videos, in his mind, were an audition tape for al Qaeda rather than an actual plan to attack US monuments. Which is somehow...er...better?

In any event the videos ended up on the hard rive of Younis Tsouli, better known as Irhabi 007. This is significant because Irhabi 007 is the great granddaddy of the internet jihad. If one man--or kid, really--is responsible for coming up with the strategy of using the internet to spread jihad, Younis Tsouli is him.

Nearly every would-be western jihadi or cyberterrorist active between 2002-2005 had some sort of link to Tsouli. Tsouli was a central nexus between al Qaeda jihadists and their supporters in the West.

Tsouli is an unindicted co-conspirator in the case.

If Tsouli had Ahmed's videos, you better believe others did as well. And even if Ahmed himself wasn't planning to attack sites in the U.S. [which is questionable], but would rather limit his planned jihad to international targets, Tsouli's other friends would have no such compunction.

Michelle Malkin has more of the details.